Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Volume 34 | Issue 1

Article 10

1943

A Fight to Establish the State Police

C. H. Quenzel

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Recommended Citation
C. H. Quenzel, A Fight to Establish the State Police, 34 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 61 (1943-1944)

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A FIGHT TO ESTABLISH THE STATE POLICE

C. H. Quenzelt
West Virginia, the fourth state to establish a police force,' took
this action in 1919 after one of the bitterest fights in the state's
legislative history.2 Defeated in the regular session of the Legislature,3 the measure authorizing the Department of Public Safety,4
as the state force was officially designated, was finally passed in the
special session.
From several angles the struggle possesses more than local significance. First, it is an example of successful gubernatorial leadership. Second, the appeals employed in the struggle are of interest
to students of the technique of influencing both the layman and the
legislator. Third, the issue of centralization is involved in the then
novel method of supplementing the law enforcement efforts of local
officers. And finally, the attitude of capital and labor on the subject
is typical.
Governor John J. Cornwell, a Democrat, led the fight for establishment. He was strongly supported by public officers and private
citizens irrespective of party, by a majority of the state press, and
by the coal operators and other employers. 5 The most militant opposition came from organized labor, but office holders and non-office
holders of all parties and some influential papers were also hostile.0
The governor testified in behalf of establishment that frequent
demands from both employers and labor leaders for the protection
of their persons or property had underlined his impotence in discharging his sworn duty of enforcing the laws of the State.
t Professor of History and Political Science, Morris Harvey College, Charleston, W. Va.

1 Bruce Smith, Police Systems in the United States (1940) pp. 182-184;
Frank G. Bates and Oliver P. Field, State Government (1939) pp. 337-338.

2 Welch McDowell Recorder, Apr. 4, 1919, p. 1; Bluefield Telegraph, Mar.

22, 31919, p. 1; CharlestonMail, Mar. 25, 1919, p. 1 .
House Journal,Reg. Sess. 1919; State of West Virginia, Journal of the
Senate ... Reg. Sess. 1919, passim, (Henceforth referred to as Senate Journal); Charleston Gazette, Feb. 27, 1919, p. 11; Shepherdstown Independent,
Mar. 12, 1919.
4 State of West Virginia; Journalof the House of Delegates ... Extra Sess.
1919. passim (Henceforth referred to as House Journal), p. 68; Interview with

the late Judge George W. McClintic, Republican floor leader in the house in
1919, Oct. 1941. The designation "police" was deliberately omitted from the organization by an amendment passed to secure the promise of his vote from a
delegate who had a strong dislike for the word.

5 House Journal,Extra Sess. 1919, p. 139, Wheeling Register, Mar. 25, 1919,
p. 1; Union Monroe Watchman, Apr. 3, 1919, p. 1; "An Uncertain Tangle,"
Bluefield Telegram, Mar. 18, 1919, p. 4, Letter of John J. Cornwell to C. H.
Quenzel, Oct. 20, 1941 (Hereafter referred to as Cornwell Letter, Oct. 20, 1941.)
6 Welch McDowell Recorder, Apr. 4, 1919, p. 1; Charleston Mail, Mar. 13,

1919, p. 1; "The End is But the Beginning," Wheeling Majority, Apr. 3, 1919,
p. 4.

62

C. H. QUENZEL

The situation appeared particularly serious to many because of

8000 alien workmen in the State who were subjects of countries still
technically at war with the United States. Cornwell's declaration
that West Virginia was destined to become a dumping ground for
bolshevists and anarchists unless the police bill passed converted
many people who originally opposed the measure. This, indeed,
was a telling argument at a time when people had just recently read
of the bolshevist seizure of power in Russia and were reading about
the imminence of a Red victory in Hungary and Germany. One
paper bluntly described the contest as a struggle between the powers
of right, justice and human liberty and the elements who were
"having their hour of joyous murder, rape, robbery and arson in
Russia."" This paper urged every church in the state to adopt resolutions commending the proposed establishment of a state constabulary.9
Another daily charged that the opposition to the state police
came from citizens who wanted either to be above the law or unduly
favored by it, by other citizens who sought their votes, or by "persons with backbones composed of some fibrous material resembling
cotton twine."' 10 In the eyes of many, proof that the opposition came
from the lawless was provided by a resolution first adopted by the
miners' local at Ramage, threatening the Governor and the Legislature with armed resistance if the bill passed.1 '
The Governor also felt that the need for more adequate and
efficient policing would arise from the passing of an amendment for
a more extensive state road system which he contemplated submitting to the legislature. An interview with the Chief of the National
Guard Section of the War Department convinced him that it would
be financially burdensome and indefensible to attempt to meet this
need by re-establishing the national guard in the State. 12 He expressed a widely felt belief by characterizing many of the special
13
deputy sheriffs as insufficiently high calibred to answer the need.
Governor Cornwell pointed out to the Legislature that the existence of state police would make the employment of private guards
so inexcusable that they might very well be prohibited by law except under specific conditions. This argument appealed to many
7 Cornwell Letter, Oct. 20, 1941; "A State Constabulary" and "State Police
or Nothing," Morgantown Post, Mar. 5, 10, 1919, p. 4.
8 "Weak Kneed Straddle," Grafton Sentinel, Mar. 22, 1919, p. 4; of. Ravenswood News, Mar. 13, 1919, p. 2.
9 "Decent People Must Get Busy," Grafton Sentinel, Feb. 28, 1919, p. 4.
10 "At This Hour," Charleston Mail, Mar. 11, 1919, p. 1.
"Senate Journal, Extra Sess., 1919, pp. 14-15; House Journal,Extra Sess.
1919, p. 140; "Threatening Our Legislature," Sistersville Daily Review, Mar.
13, 1919, p. 4; "The Two Important Measures," CharlestonMail, Mar. 24, 1919,
p. 4; "At This Hour," ibid., Mar. 12, 1919, p. 1; "Urgent Necessity," Grafton
Sentinel, Mar. 14, 1919, p. 4.
12 Cornwell Letter, Oct. 20, 1941; Jackson Arnold, Department of Public
Safety of West Virginia, Report to the Governor, Dec. 1, 1920, Charleston, n. d.
13 Shinnston News, Mar. 20, 1919, p. 4.

STATE POLICE

63

14
citizens who were aware of the abuses of the private guard system.
State papers reprinted the editorial pronouncement of the Pittsburgh Gazette Times to the effect that owing to her "difficult topography" and to "her rich diversified interests" West Virginia would
profit as much from a state police force as any commonwealth in
the union. 5
State police advocates asserted that the opposition was not confined to the merits of the case. For example, they attributed the
unfriendly attitude of certain state officials to their resentment over
the Governor's "refusal to permit the state to be surrendered to
the race track gamblers"-a reference to his veto of the racing commission bill and an appeal to the people who considered horse-racing
and gambling as synonymous activities. 16 The shift of the Wheeling
Intelligencerfrom advocacy of a constabulary to opposition was explained by some as the result of pique at the possible defeat of the
17
gas bill.
Organized labor was unitedly opposed to the bill on the ground
that the state police would be paid by all taxpayers but would serve
only one class, the wealthy capitalists. Furthermore, labor felt that
this service would be restricted principally to strike-breaking and
worker intimidation. One legislator made an unsuccessful attempt
to amend the bill so as to place the expense of the state police upon
the coal operators. The Governor in recommending establishment
to the Legislature had warned the legislators of the need of some
effective precaution against that force becoming the representative
of private interests or employers," and of this the labor leaders
were fully aware.
The intensity of labor's dread of the proposed police force and
the type of appeal it used are both amply illustrated by a labor
paper's description of the force as "a permanent soldiery, trained
and drilled to blind mechanical response to autocratic orders, recruited from the cossack-type of humanity, tempted by a gaudy
uniform, petty authority, plenty to eat, and no mental or physical
exertion." The designation of the state police as Cossacks or Cornwell's Cossacks was widely copied by the opponents of the bill who
stigmatized the constabulary movement as the
shift of "authority
19
from the judge's bench to the colonel's tent.

14 John J. Cornwell, "Biennial Message of...

to West Virginia Legislature,
Jan. 8, 1919," Public Documents, West Virginia, 1917-1918, Part I, p. 29.
15,,Every State Should Have Them," Grafton Sentinel, Feb. 26, 1919, p.
4; "Meet the Issue or Dodge It," Morgantown Post, Mar. 17, 1919, p. 4.
10 Clarksburg Telegram, Feb. 27, 1919, p. 1.
17Bluefield Telegraph, Mar. 18, 1919, p. 4.
l 8 Dunbar Advance, Apr. 4, 1919, p. 1; Shinnston News, Mar. 20, 1919, p. 4;
Kyle McCormick, CharlestonGazette, Mar. 13, 23, p. 1; Wheeling Intelligencer
quoted in House Journal, Extra Sess., p. 124; Cornwell, Biennial Message,
Jan. 8, 1919, Part I, p. 28.
19 "By Any Other Name," and "Easy Now on the Public," Wheeling Majority, Jan. 9, 16, 1919, p. 4.

64

C. H. QUENZEL

A down-state editor capitalized on the low repute of German

militarism in 1919 by charging that the establishment of state police
would "sound a German note." He held that the superman was a
myth and that changing a man's title, putting him astride a horse,
bedecking him with a uniform and arming him with a pistol failed
20
to transform his nature.
While the advocates of the state police felt that the organization
was the only alternative to West Virginia's becoming the haunt of
radicals, numerous prominent opponents contended that the establishment of such a force would provide an excuse for the importation of Bolshevists, I. W. W.s and anarchists into the state. In fact
the foes of the bill predicted that it would disrupt the mutual understanding that had developed between the operator and the miner
during the war and that it would have exactly the opposite effect
21
from what was intended.
The state tax commissioner asserted that certain influences were
making a concerted effort to create in the public mind a state of
alarm, "that West Virginia is hovering over a smouldering industrial volcano that is on the verge of breaking forth like a mighty
Vesuvius." In his opinion this was being done in order to pave the
way for the establishment of a state police department. The same
official appealed to the love of freedom with his statement that a
constabulary was offensive to the ideals of the state and a direct
' 22
violation of its motto, "Montani Semper Liberi.
Ex-Senator William E. Chilton probably struck an even more
responsive chord in opposing the establishment of a police force in
his state on the Pennsylvania model by declaring:
Pennsylvania has ridden West Virginia long enough. It has dominated our
railroads and kept us out of the best markets in the country. If it can get us
into a row with our miners, it will have played another trick as potential to
keep us in second place as has been the domination of our railroads. 23

Many denied the necessity for state police in West Virginia,

citing the presence of 1200 to 1500 police officers in the state; the
authority of every sheriff to increase his force by calling out the
posse comitatus; the federal troops at Camp Sherman, Chillicothe,
Ohio, and Camp Lee, Petersburg, Virginia; the existence of a constabulary in only three out of forty-eight states; the freedom from
incidents during the war when the state had neither national guard
nor constabulary; and the improbability that safe-crackers would
forego the "pickings of the big cities" to rob cornfields, chicken
roosts and collection plates in crossroad churches. Some conceded
20

p. 4 .

"A New Departure in Government," Charleston Gazette, Mar. 11, 1919,

21 "A State Constabulary," Clarksburg Telegram, Feb. 28, 1919, p. 6; House

Journal, Extra Sess., pp. 114-115; Charleston Gazette, Feb. 27, 1919, p. 11.
22 Ibid.
23 "Letter of W. E. Chilton to Gov. J. J. Cornwell," Charleston Gazette, Feb.
28, 1919, pp. 1, 3.

STATE POLICE

65

that a need for a constabulary might exist, but they contended24 that
if it did the proposed force was too small to be of any service.
The cost of maintenance was one of the arguments most frequently advanced against establishing state police. A daily that
favored establishment held that the cost was the only serious objection to the proposed constabulary, while others felt that the state
could not afford it in view of the necessity of paying the Virginia
debt. 25 At least one editor criticized Cornwell's campaign for estab-

lishment as a violation of his pre-election pledges of economy. 26 The

annual cost of the force had been placed at $225,000, an amount that
loomed large to many farmers. The bulk of whatever opposition
existed in the rural sections could be explained either on the grounds
of the expense or as the result of a firm belief that any community
can preserve its own peace better than that peace can be preserved
27
by an outside force.
Although some admitted that a state constabulary would probably
be more efficient than locally elected law enforcers, they preferred
the latter because they could be defeated at the polls if they became
overbearing or otherwise objectionable. Others, however, feared
that the state police force would become a dangerous political machine. One active opponent insinuated that the Governor was interested in the appointive power that the constabulary bill would
give him. The Speaker of the House of Delegates, a Republican,
bluntly stated that he opposed this bill because its passage would
defeat his party in the next election. 28 One influential paper warned
the Legislature that the passage of the police bill and the defeat of
the measure taxing natural gas would be concessions of subservience
29
to the capitalistic classes.

Theodore Roosevelt had died in January, 1919, and a capital

city daily, seeking to capitalize on the fact that the public had read
numerous eulogies of the "crusader against wealthy malefactors,"
invoked his spirit to defeat the state police bill. This paper castigated the proponents of the bill as "Bourbons, Guggenheims, Habsburgs, and People with the Spirit of Ballinger.""0
A Huntington editor prophesied that the proposal would be impractical owing to the impossibility of securing a sufficient number
of desirable men to maintain a state police force.3 '
24 Charleston Gazette, Mar. 11, 1919; Senuate Journal,Extra Sess., p. 149;
"The Police Bill," Wheeling Register, Mar. 13, 1919, p. 6.
25 "The Legislature," Bluefield Telegraph, Mar. 12, 1919, p. 4; "Empty
Argument," Clarksburg Telegraph, Mar. 8, 1919, p. 4; Huntington Advertiser,
Mar.
26 9, 1919, p. 8;Charleston Gazette, Feb. 26 and 27, 1919.
Kingwood Preston County Journal,Apr. 3, 1919.
27"Why Is a ConstabularyT' Wheeling Majority, Feb. 27, 1919, p. 6.
2S Charleston Gazette, Mar. 11, 1919, p. 4; Cornwell, Biennial Message of
. Jan. 8, 1919, Part I, p. 28; Morgantown New Dominion, Feb. 28, 1919;
Charleston Mail, Mar. 24, 1919, p. 1.
29 Quoted in Bluefield Telegraph, Mar. 18, 1919, p. 4.
30 "At This Instant," Charleston Gazette, Mar. 21, 1919, p. 4.

31 Huntington Advertiser, Mar. 11, 1919, p. 4.

66

C. H. QUENZEL

Becoming convinced of the need for an adequate law enforcement agency, Cornwell made inquiries concerning the effectiveness
of the constabulary in Pennsylvania and New York. Impressed by
the favorable replies, he discussed the proposal privately with his
trusted advisers. He recalls that "almost everyone" consulted
thought it was right, but that many of them warned him that he was
"crazy to talk about it" because of its unpopularity with labor and
because of the improbability of accomplishment.
Disregarding this advice the Governor discussed the proposal
before the West Virginia Wholesale Grocers' Association at Huntington. Receiving a favorable response, he immediately began to
get in touch with various groups and individuals to create a public
interest in the plan. In a letter to all labor unions in the State the
Governor warned them against indiscriminate opposition to any
form of "military or police"; solicited their aid in keeping West
Virginia free from I. W. W.'s and Bolsheviki; and invited them to
send representatives to the Legislature to help formulate proper
32
legislation.
Whenever the Governor saw an editorial favoring the re-establishment of the national guard he would write the editor and summarize the formidable obstacles to that course of action, obstacles
he had discovered when he had visited Washington for the expressed
purpose of ascertaining the feasibility of recreating the national
33
guard in West Virginia.
Exercising his right to recommend needed legislation, the Governor inserted in his message to the Legislature at the beginning of
the regular session in January a statement of the necessity for an
adequate law enforcement agency. He was not dogmatic about the
form this agency should take, and he emphasized the safeguards
that should be incorporated in the act authorizing its creation.
Cornwell convinced many citizens of the need for state police by
disclosing the number of enemy aliens and other aliens in a message
to the House of Delegates on February 20. In his call for the special
session of the Legislature he included the state police legislation as
one of the foremost items of business. Finally, at the request of the
Republican floor leader in the House and upon the invitation of that
34
body he addressed it just before the final vote was taken.
In addition to his public messages and addresses on the subject
Cornwell secured or retained the support of some legislators through
private conferences. Gubernatorial persuasion, however, was but a
32 Cornwell Letter, Oct. 20, 1941; "Cornwell to the Unions," Fairmont West
Virginian, Mar. 3, 1919, p. 6.
SS Morgantown Post, Mar. 10, 1919, p. 4.
34 Cornwell, Biennial Message, Jan. 8, 1919; House Journal, Reg. Sess.,
1919, p. 839 ;Senate Journal, Extra Sess., 1919, pp. 1-2; Special Message of...
to 1st ExtraSess., W. Va. Legislature, Mar. 11, 1919, pp. 4-10; Cornwell Letter,
Oct. 20, 1941.

STATE POLICE

small portion of the pressure that was exerted upon members of

the Legislature. Both sides had numerous lobbyists on hand who
worked on individual legislators, and both unleashed a torrent of
telegrams and letters.
Labor held meetings in various cities denouncing the measure,
adopted countless resolutions, threatened to strike, presented to
the joint legislative committee sweeping testimony concerning the
"misdeeds of the Pennsylvania state police," filed with the same
committee protest petitions bearing between 80,000 and 100,000
names, staged parades around the capitol, and listened enthusiastically to. speeches by Mother Jones and other well known labor
leaders. 35 State officials opposing the bill gave interviews and
speeches explaining their stand.
After being tabled the state police bill was finally passed by the

House of Delegates, where the major legislative opposition existed,

on March 24, 1919, and by the Senate on March 29, 1919.
35 Charleston Gazette, Mar. 13, 1919, p. 1; Huntington Advertiser, Mar.
14, 1919, p. 1; Berkeley Springs Morgan Messenger, Feb. 27, 1919, p. 1; "Where
Stand Ye?", Grafton Sentinel, Mar. 11, 1919, p. 4; Morgantown New Dominion,
Mar. 1, 1919; Follansbee Review, Mar. 7, 1919, p. 1.